Students prioritize college over high school

As Advanced Placement tests take place during the first two weeks of May, students are missing school to study.

The hours that students are not at school are spent sleeping and preparing for the college level placement tests they have been preparing for all year round.

There are two rounds of tests throughout the day, one at 8 a.m., and one at noon. If students have the earlier test, some will go home afterwards due to the sleep deprivation that comes along with studying for the test or to continue studying for other tests.

Students can be found missing the morning of school before the 12 p.m. test to finish last-minute studying.

Junior Emily Wong, who is taking four AP tests, does not plan on missing any days of school during AP testing week. She said, “Most teachers expect you to be gone for class, but don’t encourage it.”

According to Wong, teachers understand that AP tests are important to students, and lighten the homework load so that students can sleep and try to come to class.

However, Junior Jason Kuhn is in a different position regarding missing his classes. Even as some teachers encourage students to get well rested and study, others are disciplining students for doing so.

He said, “If I miss a class because of AP Psych, I will get a 50 percent off on that class final. My teacher does not want students to miss class because of their last-minute study crams.”

Instructional Vice President Jennifer Cho said, “As far as missing school, obviously my concern is getting behind in other classes. Additionally, it sends the message that AP exams are more important than regular classes.”

Overall, administration understands that students have a lot to manage, but caution students to be careful so that they end the year in a positive way.

Lily Bakour is a senior who loves to capture moments and write about them in her articles in The Highlander and broadcast videos on ScotCenter. When she is not participating in her extracurriculars like choir, ASB, musicals, or journalism, Lily can be found playing the ukulele, at the beach, or laughing with friends and family.